A Barry Good Performance

I took a slight break from Olympic Watching to go see the Absolutely Fabulous movie.   I largely enjoyed it, though found it a bit sloppy.  I wasn't a huge fan of the TV series, so I don't know how it was for those who were addicted to it.  I liked the show well-enough when I watched it.  And the movie seemed to capture the spirit.  I think my quibble is that while it had some very fun things things, it seemed to be trying hard to be "Outrageous" enough to justify being a movie, rather than focus more on the characters, like the series did.  But it was fine.

However, I'm not writing for that reason.

There's a very quick cameo in the movie by Dame Edna, who you may know was played by Barry Humphries.  It was a rare occurrence, since he retired the character a short while ago.  But then, I'm not writing for that reason, either.

In the movie, there's a subplot where the character of Patsy goes to track down a very rich man, Charlie, who had been infatuated with her years ago.  And the actor who plays him is...Barry Humprhies.  It may be the first time Americans will have ever seen him as himself, not Dame Edna.

I've never found Dame Edna all that funny, okay in very small doses, but I'd been aware of him before he started playing the character.  Indeed, Barry Humprhies had a respectable career in England before he developed the Dame.  In fact, he was in the original production of Oliver! on the West End.  He played the character of Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker who buys Oliver from Mr. Bumble to use in funerals your children.  He got to sing a song in the show, as well, "That's Your Funeral," which was cut out of the movie. (I embedded his West End recording of the song here.)

He's still performing -- this wasn't a one-time tribute.  He has a cabaret act that he's performing in England.  Ultimately, though, it was nice to see him in the film.